The invention relates to a holding device for mounting on an implement carrier such as a forklift truck, hoisting crane, tractor or the like in order to hold, lift or move an article.
Today vast quantities of white goods, i.e., refrigerators, deep freezers, cookers, etc., are sold, and similarly huge numbers of old white goods are collected when consumers replace them by purchasing new white goods because they are defective or are old and do not work properly. Environmental regulations in many countries require that discarded white goods be collected so that environmentally harmful substances found in the white goods can be dealt with in a secure and proper manner. At the same time, a great deal of the materials in the white goods can be recycled. Therefore, large numbers of discarded white goods arrive at white goods collection sites and are tightly stacked on top of one another, and must be capable of being handled in an efficient and careful manner.
From the Applicant's own Norwegian patent, NO 324317 B1, and the corresponding European patent EP 1654188 B1, a device is known for mounting on an implement carrier such as a forklift truck. The devices comprise a carrier part which is slid onto the fork structure of the implement carrier and magnets, which are attached to the carrier part. The holding part has magnets for gripping an article, typically a white goods item, which is to be lifted and/or moved. To release the article from the magnets, a release mechanism is provided, which consists of a release lever that is rotatably secured to the carrier frame. On release of the article, the article is thus pushed a given distance such that the magnetic forces holding the article become so great that the magnetic forces holding the article are broken. However, when several articles are to be stacked on top of one another, or because there often is not room to push the article forwards when it is to be released, the carrier part must be equipped with a telescopic device on the portion of the carrier part that is slid onto the forks of the forklift truck. When the release lever tries to push the article forwards, the whole carrier part is drawn a corresponding distance back towards the forklift truck, thereby releasing the article without it being pushed forwards (it is prevented by the release lever from following the carrier part backwards when it is drawn backwards). This design is complex as the carrier part of the device must have a telescopic fastening device for attachment to a forklift truck. In addition, the telescopic movement must be synchronised with the movement of the release lever.
If the device is not equipped with such a telescopic device, the driver of the forklift truck must reverse the truck because the release lever is used to release the article. This will of course work in a less than satisfactory manner if the driver has difficulty in managing to coordinate and synchronise the truck's (and thus the carrier part's) movement backwards with the movement of the release lever.